Foam bath apparatus



0d. 8,4 1940v v L. G. slMJlAN 'FOAM BATH APPARATUS Original FiledSept.2f 1937 INVENToR. ma@ ATTORNEYS.

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I Patented 061:.8,l .19,40

PATENT oFFlcE FOAM BATH APPARATUS Luther G. Simjiamltiverside, Conn.,assigner to I Soapless Foam, Inc.,` New York N. Y., a corporation of NewYork Applicationseptemher 2, 1937, Serial No. 162,110

l Renewed March 1, 1940 a-olaims. (c1. zei- 122) `special wood blocks`having a porosity substantially as iine as the human skin, such blocksbeing arranged in a row. or rows and having aligned air` passagesinterconnected by couplings. Air under moderate pressure was suppliedthrough said air passages to. allof the blocks, `so that with the sameimmersed in a suitable liquid, ne bubble foam was produced. However, inuse such apparatus has not proven satisfactory owingto` the tendency ofone or more of the blocks of a row or rows toclogup after a time andbecome useless, necessitating the disconnection of the blocks of the'rowand the replacement of the defective block or blocks, which is asomewhat lengthy and expensive procedure. Also, owing to themultiplicity of couplings necessary for interconnecting the blocks ofeach row, leaks ofttimes resulted at such couplings, `requiring repairor replacement.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel foambath apparatus that 'overcomes the above mentioned defects, the saidapparatus employing but-a singlel bar or relatively long porous block ofsuitable woodor other material in place of a row of blocksheretoforeused, means being provided for supplying the air or other fluid underpressure to consecutive portions of such bar or block, the air pressureat eachsuch portion, and hence the rate of air flow through the poresofthe block` into the liquid of rthebath, being adjustable by suitablevalve means to compensate for any tendency of vportions of the block toclog.

Another object of the present invention lies in the provision of a novelfoambath apparatus of the above character wherein the-electric air or4fluid pumpdriving motor is remotely controlledby pneumatic means,thereby eliminating the possibility `of electric shock to theoccupant ofthe bath equipped with the apparatus of the invention. i

Other objects and advantages will become apparent'from thespecification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing whereinone embodiment of the invention is illustrated.

Inthe drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partly in section, showinga bath tub equipped with the novel foam producing apparatus of thepresent invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view, partly broken away, of the foam distributor.

Fig. 3 is an end View, partly in section, of the structure shown in Fig.2.

Figfl 'isa part sectional view taken along the y A.line 4 4' of Fig.2,*looking in the direction of the arrows. 4 f l Fig. 5 is an enlargedfragmentary view of a portion of the structure of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 6 islan enlarged sectional plan View of the motor switch operatingmechanism.

Similar characters of reference are used in all of the above gures to.indicate corresponding parts.

Referring now to the said drawing, the referl ence numeral I designatesa bath tub equipped with the novel foam bath apparatus of this in`vention. This apparatus comprises the air pump v2 driven fromtheelectric motor 3, the pump-` motory unit being mountedon a base 4 vthatis adapted to be placed in any convenient location in' the bathroom. l

In order to prevent electric shock to the user of the apparatus, themotor 3 is adapted to be remotely controlled by pneumatic means. Thismeans is illustrated as consisting of on and off bulbs 5 i and 5',respectively connected through ilexble tubes` B and 6 to twocomplementary bellows 1 and I mounted within a switch controlcasing 8xed on top'of the motor 3,. 'Ihe outside walls 9 and 9. of the bellows 1and 1'` are iixed, whereas the common inner wall Ill is movable and isconnected to the snap switch arm II of theon` and 01T switch I2. Tubesand 6 are shown enclosed in a common tube I3.

vTo start `the motorI 3, it is only necessary ,to compress the on `bulb5, whereupon air is conveyed through tube 6 to bellows 1, therebyswing-` ingthe-inner wall I toward the right, as viewed in Fig. 6, toeffect movement of switch arm II to on position, whereas when it isdesired to stop motor 3, it is merely necessary to` squeeze i the offbulb 5', thereby forcing air into bellows 1 and moving switch arm II inthe opposite direction to effect the disconnection of motor 3 from theelectric supply.

The output of air pump 2 is connected through tubing I4 to thedistributor, designated as a whole by the reference numeral I5, whichdistributor is adapted tobe` placed upon the bottom of the bath tub I soas tolbe surrounded by water I6 contained therein. `The water I6 hasintermixed therein a small quantity of a suitable foam forming agentsuch as saponin` y The distributor I5 consists of `transverse endmembers or heads I1 `and I8 which are rigidly interconnected by spacedbars 3l] of wood or other suitable material, the bars 30 being shownseouredfto 4heads I'I and` I8 `asv by screwsy 3I. Especially preparedAbars or blocks I9` also extend between the end members I1 and I8alongside of the bars 30. The bars or blocks I3 are of wood or othersuitable material, such as molded saw-` with vascular tissue oranalogous pores 20 extending transversely of these bars and disposedthroughout the height thereof. The pores 20 are substantially as ne asthose of the human skin.

The bars i9 are preferably of trapezoidal crosseV ceiving a pipe or tube22, which pipe is provided along the length thereof with a series ofexterior annular grooves 23 that are slightly spaced from one another,asy especially shown in Fig. 4. Each -of the grooves 23 communicateswith the interior of pipe 22 through a, valve aperture 2d, the effectivecross-sectional area. of Which aperture may be varied by means of aneedle valve screw 25 that is threaded ythrough the wall of pipe 22opposite the aperture 2d. The head of each screw 25 is readilyaccessible at the under side of the block i9 and is provided with ascrew driver slot 26, whereby this screw may be readily adjusted to varythe eiective Varea of the aperture 2d, and hence the effective pressureobtaining within the annular groove or space 23 provided between pipe 22and the wall of the longitudinal bore of bar I9.

Air from tubing I4 is supplied to thepipes 22 through a passage 28provided in the end member Il. The ends of pipes 22 preferably projectsomewhat into the passage 28, as especially shown in Fig. 4, while thejoint between each such pipe and the end member Il is sealed by asuitably shaped gasket 29, as of rubber.

In use, the distributor l5 is placed upon the bottom of the tub i andwater containing the foam forming agent is placed in the tub so as toextend somewhat above the distributor, whereupon -themotor 3 is startedby pressing bulb 5, thereby producing the desired foam. When sufficientfoam is produced, the user presses the bulb 5', thereby stopping themotor 3.

Should any portion of a bar or bars l@ tend to clog as the result oflong usage, such tendency is readily corrected by adjusting the needlevalve screws 25 of that portion so as to open valve apertures 24slightly more, thereby raising the air pressure in the correspondingannular space 23 to effect the desired feed of the fluid through thepores 20 of the bar.

Inasmuch as each block i9 extends all the way from head Il to head I 8,a longitudinally con.- tinuous seating surface is provided for the userof the distributor, thereby greatly adding to his or her comfort, whilethe elimination of many small blocks also eliminates leaks ordinarilyoccurring at the couplingsy therebetween. In the event one of the blocksafter long usage should become clogged, so that full opening of thevalves 24 does not provide sufficient flow of air, such block may bereadily and easily replaced by another by disconnecting head II, andwithout the necessity of inserting a great many gaskets, as heretoforenecessary in prior devices of this character.

Owing to the use of pneumatic control of the motor 3, any possibility ofelectric shock is eliminated, thereby rendering the device absolutelysafe in use.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and manyapparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be madewithout departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawingshall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. In a foam bath apparatus, a distributor provided with a continuousporous bar having a longitudinal bore, the pores of said bar extendingfrom said bore to the exterior surface of said bar, a snugly fittingfluid conduit member extending within said bore and having a series ofexterior annular grooves facing upon the wall of said bore, said conduitmember having communieating passages extending between the interiorthereof and said grooves, and Avalve means for individually controllingthe effective area of said passages, whereby the fluid pressures in saidseries of grooves may be controlled at will so that a uniform flow ofuid passes through the pores of said bar from said grooves all along thelength of said bar regardless of the varying filtering capacities ofconsecutive portions thereof.

V2. In a foam bath apparatus, a distributor provided with a porous barhaving a longitudinal bore therein, the pores of said bar extending fromthe bore to the exterior surface thereof, a uid conducting conduitmember extending snugly within said bore, said conduit member having aplurality of mutually spaced annular depressions in the exterior surfacethereof adjoining the wall of said bore, said conduit member havingfluid conducting openings extending from the interior thereof to saidrespective annular de- 'pressionsl for supplying LLid thereto, and valvemeans' extending into said openings and operable to regulate the flow ofiiuid therefrom and into saidrespective annular depressions to be fedtherefrom through the pores of said bar to n the exterior surfacethereof, said valve means serving to effect a uniform flow of fluid fromsaid depressions through the porcs c-f said bar all along the lengththereof regardless of the varyn ing filtering capacities of consecutiveportions thereof.

n tually spaced longitudinal bars, one of said end members having apassage for receiving pressure fluid from an external source, certain ofsaid bars being transversely porous and having longitudinal borescommunicating with the passage of said one end member, the pores of saidbar extending from said bores to the exterior surfaces thereof, pipesfitting snugly within said bores and having a series of mutually spacedexterior annular grooves, said pipes having communicating passagesextending between said grooves and the interior of said pipes, andvalves for regulating the areas of said passages and hence the uidpressure within each of said grooves whereby the quantity of fluidissuing from the exterior surface of said bars is substantially uniformall along the lengths thereof regardless of the varying filteringcapacities of consecutive portions thereof.

LUTHER G. SIMJIAN.

